Factors influencing pastoralist livelihoods’ change
The findings presented in this article discuss how pastoralist livelihoods have changed in Turkana’s Nanyee irrigated area, with particular attention to the influence of the Turkwel Irrigation Scheme Association (TISA), one of the earliest interventions to promote irrigation development. Moreover, I provide personal accounts of respondents on the Nanyee irrigated area, which was established in 1982 to address food shortage. The findings describe changes in the socio-ecological and economic landscapes brought about by external interventions, livelihood challenges, and emerging new lifestyles, as explained by respondents. Oral history evidence revolves around four households who have cultivated in or near Kaekorongole since the mid-1930s.
Based on interviews with elders of the Ngmonia territorial section (known locally as Ngkwaamomwa, people of the white sorghum), they have exploited flood cultivation in the Kachaimeri floodplains for well over one hundred years, fed by flash floods from the River Turkwel, Kangole and Konyipad streams. The local cultivators planted sorghum in flood-prone areas.Footnote 7 More than 40 years after the introduction of sorghum in the Kachaimeri area, but before any serious involvement of colonial officials in irrigation, the Ngkwaamomwa were joined by impoverished settlers from other Turkana sub-groups who moved in voluntarily to the Turkwel riverine forest to live by gathering wild food and hunting.Footnote 8 By 1936, Ekaru a Eesomalit (the year Somali traders arrived in Turkana), some of the earliest Turkana settlers in this area had acquired gardens through friendship, kinship, and marriage.Footnote 9 They had also started cultivating sorghum gardens at Kachaimeri. The households increased from four to 14 before 1966, when modern irrigated agriculture and Turkana settlements were introduced in the area.Footnote 10 Since the 1960s onwards, the Government of Kenya, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and church missions supported the resettlement of impoverished Turkana pastoralists from famine relief camps, to provide them with alternatives to pastoralism. In 1966, the Government and FAO moved some 1,000 destitute Turkana from famine relief camps and supported the establishment of the Turkwel Irrigation Scheme Association (TISA), previously known as Kaekorongole irrigation scheme, as a famine prevention measure (Akall 2020:158). The scheme took some 45 ha of communal land, mainly grazing areas of local herders. The scheme that was created benefitted 175 households (about 1,050 people). Another 100 ha was excised as settlements for the Turkana settlers, who became known colloquially as Amasikin, a term that combined the idea of “people of the scheme” together with the Kiswahili word for “poor” (maskini). FAO managed the scheme until 1978, when it was handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture (Akall 2020:159). This meant 145 ha of communal pool resources was converted to irrigated agriculture and settlement. This background has contextualized the evolution of irrigated agriculture activities in the area. The next section looks at Nanyee irrigated area; one of the new irrigation schemes, established in the early 1980s, two decades after the introduction of modern small-scale irrigation interventions in the area, which is the focus of this article. Nanyee is used as a case study to understand the effects of development interventions on pastoralist livelihoods in Turkwel area of Loima sub-County, past and present.
Nanyee irrigated area
In 1982, NORAD, under the Turkana Rural Development Programme (TRDP), funded the scheme until 1990, when Norway and Kenya severed bilateral ties due to a diplomatic dispute (Akall 2020:159). It is worth noting that the destitute Turkana, who settled from 1980s until recently, do not identify with the ekwar system. This is because of the increasing informal privatization of land (with land ownership documentation being a letter of allotment or sale agreement) in small towns and across Turkana County. These newly-introduced irrigation schemes and settlements competed with the existing customary land use system, which was oriented toward livestock keeping. This has caused competition and changed power dynamics among livelihood groups in the area. For example, cultivating farmers denied pastoralists access to the dry season grazing areas and water points along the banks of the river. The competition between pastoralists and agro-pastoralists over traditional grazing areas increased conflicts along the river. The densely populated settlements also restricted access to grazing lands by pastoralists and also contributed to land degradation in the surrounding area (Adams 1992). State and non-state actors ignored pastoralism, even though it was the primary economic activity of the Turkana people (Hogg 1982). Irrigation interventions had limited local participation in their design and implementation. The irrigation programme ignored traditional flood cultivation methods and relied heavily on mechanization, as well as modern and expensive farm inputs.Footnote 11
Following the 1980–1981 drought, Turkana Rehabilitation Project (TRP), which was initially funded by the Dutch government and European Union (formerly European Economic Community) registered destitute Turkana herders into a famine relief camp to facilitate food distribution. There was a shift in thinking from relief camps to livelihood interventions. TRP heralded cultivation as the path to sustained economic development (Hogg 1982). As a solution to the food problem, in 1982, TRP under the Turkana Rural Development Programme (TRDP) funded by the Norwegian government, recruited women from the destitute Turkana into food-for-work programmes to clear land for setting up sorghum gardens at Nanyee. They cleared vegetation from 60 ha of land, which was sub-divided into plots. TRP used farmers to build a canal dug from the Turkwel River, after which the basin irrigation system was introduced.Footnote 12
A group of resident Ngmonia Turkana, who relied on seasonal cultivation at the 100 ha Kachaimeri, and the new destitute Turkana Amasikin, benefitted from these plots; each owning between four and 23 basins (0.08–0.46 ha). A basin is a surface irrigation method where water is applied to a nearly level field (in both directions and each unit (2.5-3m square) enclosed by dykes) through water raising by a bucket or by motorised pumps (Adams and Carter 1987) .Footnote 13 According to Hogg (1982), most farmers received small farming tools, such as hoes, machetes, and shovels from TRP.
The Nanyee irrigated area received external support from TRP until 1990, when NORAD withdrew funding after Norway and Kenya severed bilateral ties. From 1990 onwards, Nanyee remained a farmer-led success story because of the flexible farming practices that combined both crop cultivation and livestock keeping. In 2000, farmers constructed their own secondary canal that serves up to 200 of them. In 2003, FAO installed canal structures, such as intakes and checkboxes. In 2005, Nanyee was registered as a water users association (WUA) under the District Gender and Social Services unit.Footnote 14 This was in response to the reforms brought about by the 2002 Water Act, which liberalized the water sector, particularly the management of the river basin.
This meant that the scheme had to be managed through a formal administrative structure, as per WUAs’ rules and regulations. The scheme’s secretary mentioned:
The registration of Nanyee as a WUA enabled us to access external support as a communal group. For example, the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar introduced the seed revolving fund for Ksh.120, 000 ($1,200), and a further Ksh.370, 000 ($3,700) for nursery management.Footnote 15
Additional support came from the Arid Lands Resource Management Project (ALRMP)—present-day National Drought Management Authority (NDMA)—which supplied farm tools and used farmers to build a tertiary canal in 2012 through a food-for-work programme supported by World Vision Kenya.Footnote 16
Every 2 years, WUA members elect a governing committee. The committee handles issues like water use and management through block or tertiary system, mobilizes farmers to desilt the canal, and resolves conflicts between farmers and pastoralists or among the farmers themselves.Footnote 17 In 2017, World Food Programme (WFP) helped to concrete-line the canal intake and fenced 400 m of the scheme, leaving a large part unfenced.Footnote 18 Today, Nanyee irrigated area is facing the problems of wildlife (e.g. warthogs, monkeys, and birds), livestock invasions, thieves, water scarcity, pests, salinity, shrinking cropland, uncontrollably growth of Prosopis, and growing population.Footnote 19
Livelihood strategies and household types
Based on income sources and structure, the study results showed that 46 households practised irrigated agriculture and 37 kept livestock, while 34 engaged in both irrigated agriculture and livestock keeping. Based on gender, 18 men aged between 36 and 82 years were involved in irrigated agriculture. The mean age among these was 61.
Some 11 women, among them two young women aged 34 and 35 years old, were involved in irrigated agriculture. The age range in this category was between 34 and 66 years, with a mean of 53 years. Overall, 42 men and 17 women practised irrigated agriculture (Fig. 3). The number of men was higher than that of women because culture demands that men inherit fields from their fathers. A farmer said: “My sons would inherit the fields from me because my daughters are married off and start their own families.” Notably, many women interviewees owning fields were widows, while some reported inheriting fields from their parents. There was a clear indication that inheritance of cropland by daughters was high in daughter-only households, or those headed by women. This meant that compared to men, women and girls have less access to own land. Their ability to benefit from irrigation interventions is thus diminished. As a result, some engaged in high-risk adaptation strategies, such as charcoal production and beer brewing beer, as discussed later.
Woody vegetation encroachment
Historically, intermittent floods recharged groundwater reservoirs, which sustained a mixed woody vegetation dominated by Acacia tortilis, Hyphaene compressa, Salvadora persica, Ziziphus mauritania, and Cordia sinensi (Adams 1989). However, in 1984, NORAD, through TRP, introduced Prosopis juliflora, originally from tropical America (Maundu et al. 2009), known locally as etirae. This plant was meant to reclaim the degraded land.
According to a forestry adviser involved in developments at the time, the Turkana were knowledgeable about their environment, but external interventions ignored their knowledge and capabilities.Footnote 20 However, Prosopis has displaced indigenous woodland vegetation and grows uncontrollably in irrigated areas. This affects the activities of cultivators and pastoralists, who depend on the riverine forest for grazing, wild foods, and medicine. A frustrated cultivator at Nanyee, 73, explained:
Etirae, Prosopis has covered fallow fields because of its rapid spread. We now cultivate 20 out of 60 hectares cleared in the past.Footnote 21
The alien invasive species has negatively impacted on local livelihoods. One example is a respondent age 83 and a pastoralist, who shared his frustration: “I lost 40 out of 50 goats to Prosopis after the pods blocked their rumen and damaged their teeth.”Footnote 22
The result showed that the highest number of livestock (small stock, mainly goats) owned by a household was 800 goats in 1966 and has reduced to 10 goats in 2019. The average number of livestock owned by a household was 109. Households mentioned owning between 10 and 90 goats. The indigenous vegetation useful during dry season and lean periods has been displaced owing to the invasiveness of Prosopis, thus undermining livelihoods. Despite these disadvantages, local Turkana women are using Prosopis thickets as hideouts while brewing illicit liquor. They also use the wood for firewood, poles for building, and twigs for fencing homes and farms.Footnote 23
Irrigation-induced population pressures
Resettlement schemes may have aimed at improving livelihoods of impoverished Turkana, but the narratives and experiences of members of the study population indicate that the opposite was true. The resettlement took place through several processes. First, the settling of destitute Turkana increased the population of Kaekorongole from 14 households in 1965 to 175 households in 1966. This constituted about 1000 people, all living in three villages. However, Hogg (1982) reported that by the early 1980s, there was over 3000 permanent residents in a landmass of 8 km2. At present, the Turkwel population is estimated at 9315 (or 2005 households) (KNBS 2019: 124) covering 12 permanent villages.
Secondly, the clearing of land to set up irrigated areas dispossessed agro-pastoralists and pastoralists of their seasonal rain-fed sorghum cultivation, dry season grazing land, and water sources along the banks of the Turkwel River. Oral history interviews showed that the 14 households mentioned earlier cultivated 100 ha from the Kachaimeri floodplains, Kairuto (present-day Nanyee) up to the foot of the Kaekorongole hill, for seasonal rain-fed sorghum cultivation.Footnote 24
The seasonal sorghum gardens were productive and high yielding. An elderly farmer, who cultivated Kachaimeri floodplain garden, remembered:
I harvested up to 60 bags of traditional white sorghum from my seasonal garden at Kachaimeri. However, from 1966 to 1982, we lost over 100 hectares to the Kaekorongole water reservoir, which diverted water to the Kaekorongole irrigation scheme.Footnote 25
To address this water shortage, in 1970, FAO constructed an embankment by diverting flash floods water to supply the sorghum gardens. But the water problem persisted because of drought. The same respondent further said:
In 1985, Ekaru a namoco, year Namoco was killed by suspected Pokot bandits, the Konyipad seasonal stream changed its course to the Turkwel River, denying the sorghum gardens run-off water.
This meant locals had to cultivate only during the rainy season. In 1982, a group that cultivated seasonal gardens at Kachaimeri moved to Nanyee as a risk spreading strategy. Thirdly, the clearing of land destroyed the indigenous woody vegetation that traps run-off water to prevent soil erosion. Furthermore, the enclosed irrigated areas blocked livestock migratory routes. The fencing changed the social dynamics among livelihood groups by limiting access to resources and precipitating tensions. For example, respondents mentioned that pastoralists trek up to 30 km in search of pasture. This has also caused conflicts between farmers and herders.Footnote 26
Today, there are nine irrigated areas in Turkwel location, covering 1000 ha of pastoral communal land.Footnote 27 Overall, this article suggests that these livelihood challenges have forced the study population to diversify to compensate for livelihood changes caused by resettlement and irrigation schemes as discussed below.
Shrinking fields and decline in agricultural production
Findings indicate that livelihoods in Turkwel are on a new trajectory. Agricultural production has declined significantly. This is attributed to factors like shrinking cropland, salinity, and water scarcity. The results showed that 46 households involved in irrigated agriculture owned plots of between two and 40 basins (the average size of a basin is 20 m by 10m). The average size of a household’s plot was eight basins. Majority of interviewees attributed reduced cropland to the invasive Prosopis juliflora.. This is evidenced by changes in the physical landscape, especially the increasing expanse of abandoned fields.
Results showed that households experienced low yields, with cultivators harvesting between 20 and 1500 kg (30 bags of sorghum/maize) from their fields.Footnote 28 The average yield per basin was 36 kg. This is a substantial decline relative to the past. A respondent, 82,Footnote 29 remembers good old days: “Some 40 years ago, I harvested 4,500kg to 5,400kg (50 to 60 bags of sorghum) from this seasonal rain-fed garden.”Footnote 30
The various changes and adversities mentioned above have forced households to make tough choices regarding their livelihoods. Activities vary greatly across different categories of households as discussed in the next section.
Alternative livelihoods and reduced options
The historical livelihood system of the Turkana provided ample opportunities for diversification to adapt to climate variability and other shocks. While much of diversification took place within pastoral production, such as mobility, herd diversification, and opportunistic planting, several authors have also described alternative livelihoods (Omolo and Mafongoya 2019; Schilling et al. 2016; Opiyo et al. 2015). For example, destitute Turkana in Turkwel engaged in alternative livelihoods like trading in food relief, beer brewing, petty trade, and selling charcoal and fuel wood. Notably, Hogg (1982) described that Turkana herders have historically treated famine relief food as a supplement to pastoral production.
The irrigation schemes forced them into a limited set of alternative livelihoods with lower productivity. This study suggests continuity of these alternative livelihoods in Turkwel. In the households interviewed, women often combined a variety of tasks-for-cash activities, such as charcoal burning, beer brewing, basketry, building materials, horticultural production, and beekeeping to compensate for the low crop yields and supplement household income. The irrigation schemes reduced the choices available to pastoralists. As illustrated in the specific examples of alternative livelihoods below and Figure 4, local Turkana continued to adapt through supplementary livelihood activities.
Figure 4 indicates that 47 households of sample population were dependent on alternative livelihood sources, such as cash transfer, charcoal burning, basketry, livestock trade, building materials, beer brewing, horticultural production, and beekeeping. An average of seven households of those interviewed depended on alternative livelihoods.
Cash transfer payouts
Famine relief has featured prominently in humanitarian responses in Turkana. However, food relief supplies took place until 2011, after which there was a lull following the introduction of other social protection interventions like cash transfer. Food relief distribution was cut off at some point. A respondent recalled: “We received food relief ration in 2010.”Footnote 31 The decrease in food relief took place in parallel to an increase in a social safety net system of cash payouts under the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP), known locally as Lopetun (in abundance).Footnote 32 However, not everyone who was registered benefited from the cash transfer. A disappointed resident shared his frustration: “They (NGOs and Equity) came and registered us for this programme but majority of the peopled missed out. Our names were missing in the register, and some who received ATM cards are still waiting for cash two years later.”Footnote 33 Despite the challenges, some are laughing to the bank. Cash transfer payouts form the highest share of livelihood income in the study site, and sometimes, the only source of income for households. Majority of households (20%) were dependent on cash transfer that makes up half of their income compared to other livelihood options. This contribution has become increasingly important, as other income sources decline. The average age of cash transfer beneficiaries was 61 years, with the oldest aged 82 years. Many elderly interviewees stressed being unable to continue with physical work like tilling land.
Charcoal production
The non-timber forest products (NTFPs) contributed to the second share of livelihood income among the study population. The results showed a mean income share of 13%. The results indicate interactions between households’ ownership of ekwar and engagement in charcoal burning. Other households engaging in charcoal burning relied on deadwood gifted by friends or bought from ekwar owners. Hogg (1982) wrote that the settling of destitute herders and clearing of bush for sorghum gardens had long-term effects on local environmental conditions, especially deforestation. As irrigation income diminishes, cultivators are exploiting the woodland vegetation to get alternative forms of livelihood. Majority of those involved in charcoal burning were elderly men, attributed to their ownership of ekwar, and bond friends who owned ekwar with a mixed wood vegetation of Acacia tortilis trees popular with charcoal production. For instance, results showed that a household burns a deadwood tree that produces about 25 bags (90 kg) of charcoal. However, due to ageing, some people are unable to produce enough charcoal. A respondent mentioned: “I burn between two and four bags of charcoal in two weeks. I sell a bag of charcoal for Ksh.300 ($3), mainly to passing middlemen in Turkwel.”Footnote 34 The sample population used the proceeds from charcoal production to buy food, and pay school fees and hospital bills. The growing urban population in Turkwel and the nearby towns contributed to the demand for fuel wood energy. The results showed that other non-timber forest products, including basketry, formed the third source of income at 12%. Respondents engaged in basketry used Hyphaene compressa (eengol), native vegetation. The results indicate the overwhelming use of Hyphaene compressa for basketry, roofing materials, poles and edible nuts, and the invasive Prosopis would deplete it.
Beekeeping
In the past, local Turkana harvested honey for subsistence from the trunks of Acacia tortilis trees on the banks of River Turkwel. As irrigation scheme yields diminish, some households are diversifying into beekeeping to supply honey to growing urban markets. Beekeeping initiatives were started with members’ own capital and some external support. A group official said: “We use conventional beehives and protective equipment supplied by donor agencies and bought by the groups. We keep beehives in one of our member’s ekwar along the riverine forest.”Footnote 35 The groups have established a strong connection with other producers, brokers, and consumers to achieve high volumes and high value. The honey value chain is sustained through maintaining a network of beekeepers along the Turkwel River.
The same official added:
We buy honey from other producers for Ksh.1, 400 ($14) for five litres, making a profit of Ksh.100 ($1). Our group has a membership of 12. We produce a minimum of 100l per season, making Ksh.30, 000 (USD 300) in Turkwel, and Ksh.50, 000 (USD 500) whenever we sell in Lodwar. By 2018, the group had savings of about Ksh.500, 000 (USD 5,000) from honey production.
The 2017 drought and wildfire outbreak that destroyed the woody vegetation affected the groups’ beekeeping income.
Horticultural production
Since the 1960s until 1990s, the Government and donor agencies promoted cultivation of market-value crops, such as dates, cotton, fruits, vegetables, and fodder in the small-scale irrigation schemes along River Turkwel. However, after the withdrawal of external support in the 1990s, the cultivation stopped. Only those who worked as labourers or had acquired horticultural farming skills continued cultivating. Over time, as staple food crop yields diminished, some households have diversified into horticultural farming and also invested in motorized water pumps costing between Ksh. 22,000 ($220) and Ksh. 50,000 ($500).Footnote 36 A local irrigation schemes coordinator mentioned that by 2019, about 30 irrigators in Turkwel Location, which has 9 irrigated areas, including Nanyee (for example, in Nanyee, which is the focus of this study, only one farmer owned a motorised water pump), owned motorized water pumps, up from only two in 2014.Footnote 37
To compensate for water scarcity in the irrigated areas, one farmer and a local church pastor, who owns a motorized water pump, said:
I bought a second-hand motorised water pump at Ksh.20, 000($200) to draw water from the Amokololo lagoon for vegetable production. I grow vegetables like kale (sukuma wiki in Kiswahili), tomatoes, onions, and cowpeas for sale in Lodwar. I earn about Ksh.30, 000 ($300) per month from vegetables.Footnote 38
Households are using proceeds from vegetable sales to buy livestock, fuel for the water pump, and seeds.
Some people have found success with cultivation in the irrigation schemes, especially those with adequate financial capital. With enough initial capital, profits are guaranteed. However, start-up capital and social connections are likely to be unavailable to those who are the most vulnerable.
Unlike the cultivators mentioned with connections, and the local elite involved in horticultural farming, the majority of elderly farmers interviewed mentioned decried lack of money to buy motorized water pumps to boost their cultivation. Instead, these respondents conserve the riverine forest ecosystem using the ekwar system for long-term sustainable use.
Beer brewing
In the early 1980s, Hogg (1982) wrote that women among the resettled destitute Turkana, who had access to alternative food to famine relief maize, used the maize they received to brew beer. They used the profits to acquire livestock. This study found a continuity of women involvement in beer brewing. During fieldwork, a group of women brewing hard alcohol (chang’aa) in the thorny thicket of Prosopis juiflora fled after mistaking us for policemen. This showed that the brewers operated under constant fear of the law. In a focus group discussion with 20 women, it became clear that the reason for engaging in illicit brewing was to compensate for low crop yields. It was also a means of gaining start-up capital for possible expansion into other livelihoods. A brewer said: “I make up to Ksh.2, 000 (USD 20) in a day from the bootleg.”Footnote 39
Multiple alternative forms of income
As shown in Figure 4, some households engaged in more than one alternative form of income, including charcoal production, farm labour, making makuti (roofing material) and mats, and selling building poles and firewood, to pool income. Households are using the earnings to buy livestock, clothes, food, and pay school fees. In summary, these results indicate how external interventions have influenced changes in pastoralist livelihoods in the study site. Interactions ranged between choice of household income strategies and local environmental conditions.
Oral history accounts showed that the study population has practised irrigated agriculture well over 100 years, alongside pastoralism before their interaction with external interventions. This article suggested that external development affects local livelihoods in both expected and unanticipated ways. Despite the underperformance of external interventions, local households have persisted in practising irrigated agriculture using some aspects of flood cultivation to sustain their livelihoods.
Similarly, sedentarization through settlements, irrigation schemes, the alien invasive species Prosopis juliflora, and urbanization are having effects on cultivators and pastoralist communities dependent on the riverine forest. The households are increasingly commodifying and engaged in alternative livelihoods to compensate for low crop yields and loss of pastoral livelihoods. Turkana land is under threat from a growing human population, displacements, and dispossession of grazing areas. These new challenges are putting more pressure on land, while the local Turkana remain impoverished.